Drafting apparatus for textile fibres



P 1960 J. NOGUERA Q 2,931,074

DRAFTING APPARATUS FOR TEXTILE FIBRES Filed May 1, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1April 5, 1960 Filed May 1, 1956 J. NOGUERA DRAFTING APPARATUS FORTEXTILE FIBRES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 DRAFTING APPARATUS FOR TEXTILE FIBRESJoseph Noguera, London, England, assignor to Casabiancas High DraftCompany Limited, Salford, Manchester, England Application May 1, 1956,Serial No. 581,890

Claims priority, application Great Britain May 11, 1955 Claims. (Cl.19-137) This invention relates to drafting apparatus for textile fibres,the apparatus being of the kind employing superposed endless apronshaving co-operating runs between which the fibres are guided duringdrafting.

The employment of such apparatus for the alternative drafting of longfibres up to 3 inches or longer and short fibres such as cotton,necessitates the use of extra long fibre controlling apron runs in orderto accommodate the longer fibres. Such extra long runs, however, have adisadvantageous tendency to deform or become unsteady in use.Furthermore, extra long apron runs are not altogether satisfactory forcontrolling the shorter fibres since the distance separating the nipbetween the usual front drawing rollers and the nip between the usualapron driving rollers, where the fibres are held in a substantiallynon-yielding grip, greatly exceeds the fibre length.

A mainobject of the invention is to enable a drafting apparatusemploying endless aprons to be readily accommodated, in a simple andexpeditious manner, for the eficient alternative drafting of short orlong fibres.

Accordingly the invention provides a drafting apparatus of the kindspecified having extra long cooperating apron runs, wherein the apronsare arranged to pass respectively around the upper and lower rollers oftwo pairs of belt supporting rollers, the top rollers of said rollerpairs being adapted to receive weighting pressure alternatively toaccommodate the apparatus to the drafting of different fibre lengths.

According to a further more limited aspect of the invention, said apronruns are arranged to pass respectively around the upper and lowerrollers of two pairs of supporting rollers and are guided at theirdelivery ends by tensor means, the lower rollers of said two rollerpairs being arranged to receive a drive and the upper rollers of saidtwo roller pairs being adapted to receive top weighting pressurealternatively to vary the distance of the nip, formed between theweighted top roller and the corresponding bottom roller, from thedelivery ends of the apron runs.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, embodiments thereof will now be described in detailwith reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a part-sectional side elevation showing one form of draftingapparatus constructed in accordance with the invention, parts of theapparatus which are of known construction being omitted for the sake ofclarity,

Figures 2 and 3 are fragmentary detail views showing the front part ofthe apparatus according to Figure l in two further alternative positions'of adjustment, and

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 but illustrates the employment ofa modified form of front tensor and top apron.

Referring now to the drawings, the drafting apparatus illustrated isprovided with five consecutive roller pairs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and9, 10, the toprollers of the roller pairs being of the dual boss typeand having an intermediate neck part 1a, 3a, 5a, 7a and 9a. Two extralong endless superposed aprons 11 and 12, guided by a cradle 120, arealso provided on the apparatus. The term extra long as used in thespecification and claims is intended to mean of sufiicient length topermit the efficient handling of the longest fibres with which such anapparatus is required to deal. The top apron 11 is arranged to runaround the top rollers 5 and 3 of the third and second roller pairs fromthe front or delivery end of the apparatus, and around the upper arm 13aof a two-armed front tensor member, whilst the bottom apron 12 isarranged to run around the bottom rollers 6 and 4 of the same pairs andaround the bottom arm 13b of the front tensor member. With such anarrangement, the second roller pair 3, 4 which is additional to theusual roller pairs employed, serves to support the co-operating runs atan intermediate position along the length of the runs.

All the bottom rollers 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 of the five roller pairs aredriven in any known manner and supported in the usual way by rollerstands, whilst the top rollers 11, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are supported in thenebs of cap bars again in well known manner. A saddle assembly isarranged to apply weighting pressure to the top rollers. This assemblyincludes a front saddle 14 which weights the top roller 1 of the frontroller pair, and the top roller 3, in the embodiment shown in Figure l,of the second roller pair, and a rear saddle 15 which weightssimultaneously the top rollers 7 and 9 of the fourth and fifth rollerpairs. The front and rear saddles 14 and 15 are arranged, in knownmanner, in tandem, and are pivotally connected at 16 and 17 intermediatetheir lengths to opposite ends of a bridging member 18. This bridgingmember 18 is arranged for attachment to a weighting hook 19 whichextends upwardly through the drafting rollers between the third rollerpair 5, 6 and the fourth roller pair 7, 8. For a purpose which willlater become clear, the weighting book 19 is provided with two heads19a, 19b and, in Figure 1, is shown with the front head 19a attached toa transverse pin 20 on the bridging memher 18.

The front and rear saddles 14 and 15 are arranged, in the normal manner,to bear on the intermediate roller necks and, in order that weightingpressure from the front saddle 14- may be applied only to one of the twotop rollers 3 and 5, the neck 5a of the roller 5 in the embodiment ofFigure 1 is of considerably smaller diameter than the neck 3a of roller3. In this way only the neck 3a is contacted by'the saddle 14, whilstthe neck 5a is positioned well beneath this saddle. The front saddle 14,is of course, sufficiently long to span the top rollers of the firstthree roller pairs, and by simply interchanging the second and third toprollers 3 and 5, as shown in Figures 2 to 4, it is possible to applyweighting pressure selectively to one or the other of these top rollers.Alternatively, the transference of weighting pressure could be effectedby exchanging the second and third top rollers 3 and 5 in the one casefor a roller having a smaller diameter neck and, in the other case, fora roller having a larger diameter neck.

In order that the pivotal connection between the front saddle 14 and thebridging member 18 shall be roughly at the correct position between thetop rollers to which weighting pressure is applied, the front saddle isprovided with an alternative pivotal connecting position 16a which isarranged behind the pivotal connection 16 shown in Figure 1. In thealternative arrangements illustrated in Figures 2 to 4,. it is thealternative connecting position 16a which is employedj The distancebetween the fourth roller pair 7, 8 and the front roller pair 1,-'2'is'normally fixed, but" the fifth roller pair 9, 10 is arranged to movebackwards or forwards to vary the distance between this fifth rollerpair and the fourth roller pair 7, 8. To this end the rear saddle 15 iselongated so that it can continue to bear on the top rollers of both thefourth and fifth roller pairs in any position of adjustment up tomaximum spacing. Again preferably two further alternative positions ofpivotal connection 17a, 17b are provided between the rear saddle 15 andthe bridging member 18 to allow for the varying positions of adjustmentbetween thefourth and fifth roller pairs.

Since the front roller pair 1, 2 will normally be in a fixed position inrelation to the apparatus, it will be appreciated that connection of thebridging member 18 to the rear point of connection 16a on the frontsaddle, as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 will of necessity have the effectof moving the bridging member 18 rearwardly. This, in turn, will movethe pin 20 on the bridging member rearwardly by a corresponding amount.To allow for this rearward movement of the bridging member, theweighting hook 19 is, as aforesaid, provided with two heads 19a, 1% sothat these heads can be used alter- 1natively according to the positionof the bridging mem- With the arrangement as described it becomes arelatively simple matter to accommodate the apparatus for the draftingof short or long fibres. In Figure 1 the apparatus is shown inadjustment for handling short fibres, the fourth and fifth roller pairs7, 8 and 9, 10 being appropriately spaced and the saddle 15 beingpivoted in the rearmost position 17 to the bridging member 18. Similarlythe bridging member 18 is pivoted to the front saddle 14 at the frontpivotal position 16 and the transverse pin 20 on the bridging memberengages the front hook 19a of the weighting hook 19. The top rollers 3and of the second and third roller pairs are, as aforesaid, arranged sothat the top roller 3 receives weighting pressure from the saddle 14whilst the top roller 5 is unweighted. Thus the pressure of the frontsaddle 14 is applied only to the top rollers 1 and 3 of the first andsecond roller pairs, and the distance between the non-yielding nips oneach side of the tensor members 13a, 13b is reduced to the distancebetween the first and second roller pairs.

To accommodate the apparatus to the drafting of long fibres, thedistance between the fourth and fifth roller pairs 7, 8 and 9, isappropriately increased and the rear saddle is connected to the bridgingmember 18 at one or the other of the pivotal positions 17a, 17b 7according to the selected roller spacing. The top rollers '3 and 5 ofthe second and third roller pairs also are interchanged, as shown inFigurs 2, 3 and 4, so that the front saddle 14 bears only on the toprollers of the first and third roller pairs. For handling longer fibres,the rear hook 19b of'the weighting hook 19 will be engaged with the pin20 of the bridging member 18 and this bridging member will be connectedto the front saddle 14 at the rear pivotal position 16a.

With such an arrangement, the top roller of the second roller pair actsmerely as an idler turning under its own weight and will exert only ayielding grip on the fibres passing between the apron runs. The bottomroller of the second roller pair will continue to be driven at a speedat least as great as the bottom roller of the third roller pair andpreferably a little greater to an extent of about 1%. The maximumdistance between non-yielding nips on each side of the tensor members atthe deiivery end of the aprons will then be provided as between thethird roller pair and the front roller pair.

The only difference between the arrangements shown in Figures 2 and 3 isthat, in the latter case, the top idler roll of the second roller pairhas been moved back somewhat in relation to the bottom roll and towardsthe top roller of the third roller pair. This adjustment is readilyeifected merely by sliding the uebs Whih .11

4 port the second top roller along the associated cap bars. The resultis that the control exercised on the fibres passing between the aprons11 and 12 is rather more remote in the rearward direction from thetensor members 13a, 13b to enable still longer fibres to be handled.

The arrangement shown in Figure 4 is intended for certain kinds of workmore especially when the bulk of fibre is very large and it isadvantageous to reduce as much as possible the fibre control whichis'exercised at the delivery nip of the hands. This is normally achievedby using widertensors, that is to say, tensors having a wider gapbetween the two prongs. In some cases, however, even the widest tensormay give too much fibre control and the arrangement of Figure 4 can thenbe usefully employed in that it gives no control at all at the positionwhich was formerly the delivery point of the apparatus. To this endFigure 4 employs a single arm tensor 13c for the bottom apron and amodified form of top apron 11a which runs only around the second andthird top rollers.

I claim:

1. In a textile fibre drafting apparatus having front and rearward pairsof upper and lower drafting rollers, intermediate upper and lowerco-operating endless aprons and a top roller saddle weighting mechanism,the combination of two succeeding pairs of upper and lower apronsupporting rollers, said aprons being extra long and supported by saidapron supporting rollers, the upper rollers of said pairs of apronsupporting rollers, having different diameter necks, and a saddleweighting member adapted to span and bear on the neck of said frontupper roller and the neck of the upper apron supporting roller which hasthe larger diameter whereby the other said upper apron supporting rolleris left unweighted.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which the said upper apronsupporting rollers are exchangeable to transfer the saddle weight fromone said supporting roller pair to the other and thereby vary thedistance between the weighted supporting roller pair which drives theaprons and the said front roller pair, to accommodate the apparatus fordrafting different fibre lengths.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 1 further including tensor meansguiding the forward end of at least one of said aprons.

4. A textile fibre drafting mechanism which is adjustable for draftingshort and long fibres and comprises a front pair of upper and lowerdrafting rollers, two consecutive rearward pairs of upper and lowerdrafting rollers which are relatively adjustable in the fore and aftdirection of the drafting field, two consecutive pairs of upper andlower apron supporting rollers disposed between said front and rearwardrollers and having interchangeable upper rollers with different diameternecks, upper and lower endless aprons extending respectively around theupper and lower apron supporting rollers, tensor means supporting theforward end of at least one of said aprons and an adjustable saddleweighting mechanism adapted to apply weighting pressure to the upperrollers of all said roller pairs other than the upper apron supportingroller having the smaller diameter neck, said saddle mechanism beingadjustable to conform with the spacing of the said weighted rollers.

5. A textile fibre drafting mechanism as claimed in claim 4 in whichsaddle weighting is applied to the rearmost pair of apron supportingrollers and the rollers of the other said apron supporting pair areindividually adjustable in the fore and aft direction of the draftingfield to vary the fibre control exercised thereby.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,707,807 De Santis May 10, 1955 2,760,237 Spisak et a1 Aug. 28, 19562,769,210 Solauas Nov. 6, 1956

